Moisture Flux Anomalies Research Articles

Influence of the Madden–Julian Oscillation on Southern African Summer Rainfall

Abstract Composite maps of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) anomalies over the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) cycle show marked intraseasonal fluctuations over southern Africa (south of 15°S). Large-scale convective clusters are seen to propagate eastward and then northward over the continent, mainly between 10° and 20°S. The corresponding response of the rainfall field presents the alternation, over the cycle, of dry and humid phases, which are both significant. Moisture flux anomalies indicate an intraseasonal modulation of the midtropospheric easterly flow over the Congo basin at 700 hPa; these fluctuations are coupled to meridional flux anomalies that extend from the tropical to the subtropical austral latitudes, and favor occurrences of wet or dry conditions over the domain. Though statistically significant, the influence of the MJO on southern Africa is however not homogeneous spatially, and only the tropical areas exhibit sharp periodicities in the 30–60-day period range. The OLR dipole observed in previous studies at the interannual and synoptic time scales between the hinterland parts of southern Africa and the southwestern Indian Ocean in the north of Madagascar is investigated next, as it also shows strong fluctuations at the intraseasonal time scale. The study points out that the dipole is partly influenced by the MJO, though the strongest periodicities are found for slightly longer periods (35–80 days) than those typically associated with the oscillation. The forcing of the MJO on the OLR dipole, though significant, remains thus partial.

Dominant Modes of Moisture Flux Anomalies over North America

Abstract This study investigates the principal modes of seasonal moisture flux transport over North America, analyzing their possible dependence on large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. It uses 23 yr (1979–2001) of 6-hourly data from the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis I project. Complex empirical orthogonal function (complex-EOF) analysis is implemented on the vertically integrated and seasonally averaged moisture flux, to identify the dominant modes. For every season, the characteristic spatial pattern of the two most dominant modes is compared to the geopotential height anomaly field and precipitation anomaly field using correlation analysis. The two dominant winter modes capture the variability in the moisture flux field associated with extreme precipitation events over the western coast of the United States. The first winter mode captures 52% of the variability of the season and is related to the strong ENSO events of 1982/83 and 1997/98 (El Niño) and 1989 (La Niña). The second winter mode captures anomalous high moisture flux over the southwest related to the east Pacific teleconnection pattern. The intense moisture transport associated with high-precipitation events in the central United States (including the 1993 flood) is captured by summer mode 1, while the second mode of the summer season captures the moisture flux variability related to the 1983 and 1988 droughts. The results show that these summer flood and drought events are characterized by very different moisture flux anomalies and are not the positive and negative phases of a given mode. The use of complex-EOF analysis captures extreme hydrologic events as characteristic modes of interannual variability and allows a better understanding of the atmospheric circulation patterns associated with these events.

Circulation anomalies associated with tropical-temperate troughs in southern Africa and the south west Indian Ocean

Daily rainfall variability over southern Africa (SA) and the southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) during the austral summer months has recently been described objectively for the first time, using newly derived satellite products. The principle mode of variability in all months is a dipole structure with bands of rainfall orientated northwest to southeast across the region. These represent the location of cloud bands associated with tropical temperate troughs (TTT). This study objectively identifies major TTT events during November to February, and on the basis of composites off NCEP reanalysis data describes the associated atmospheric structure. The two phases of the rainfall dipole are associated with markedly contrasting circulation patterns. There are also pronounced intra-seasonal variations. In early summer the position of the temperate trough and TTT cloud band alternates between the SWIO and southwest Atlantic. In late summer the major TTT axis lies preferentially over the SWIO, associated with an eastward displacement in the Indian Ocean high. In all months, positive events, in which the TTT cloud band lies primarily over the SWIO, are associated with large-scale moisture flux anomalies, in which convergent fluxes form a pronounced poleward flux along the cloud band. This suggests that TTT events are a major mechanism of poleward transfer of energy and momentum. Moisture transport occurs along three principle paths: (1) the northern or central Indian Ocean (where anomalous fluxes extend eastward to the Maritime Continent), (2) south equatorial Africa and the equatorial Atlantic, (3) from the south within a cyclonic flow around the tropical-temperate trough. The relative importance of (2) is greatest in late summer. Thus, synoptic scale TTT events over SA/SWIO often result from large-scale planetary circulation patterns. Hovmoeller plots show that TTT development coincides with enhanced tropical convection between 10°–30°E (itself exhibiting periodicity of around 5 days), and often with convergence of eastward and westward propagating convection around 40°E. Harmonic analysis of 200 hPa geopotential anomalies show that TTT features are forced by a specific zonally asymmetric wave pattern, with wave 5 dominant or significant in all months except February when quasi-stationary waves 1, 2 and 3 dominate. These findings illustrate the importance of tropical and extratropical dynamics in understanding TTT events. Finally, it is suggested that in November–Januar TTT rainfall over SA/SWIO may be in phase with similar rainfall dipole structures observed in the South Pacific and South Atlantic convergence zones.

The Climate Signal in Regional Moisture Fluxes: A Comparison of Three Global Data Assimilation Products

This study assesses the quality of estimates of climate variability in moisture flux and convergence from threeassimilated datasets: two are reanalysis products generated at the Goddard Data Assimilation Office and theNational Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the third consistsof the operational analyses generated at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).The regions under study (the United States Great Plains, the Indian monsoon region, and Argentina east of theAndes) are characterized by frequent low-level jets and other interannual low-level wind variations tied to thelarge-scale flow. While the emphasis is on the reanalysis products, the comparison with the operational productis provided to help assess the improvements gained from a fixed analysis system. All three analyses capture the main moisture flux anomalies associated with selected extreme climate (droughtand flood) events during the period 1985–93. The correspondence is strongest over the Great Plains and weakestover the Indian monsoon region reflecting differences in the observational coverage. For the reanalysis products,the uncertainties in the lower tropospheric winds is by far the dominant source of the discrepancies in themoisture flux anomalies in the middle latitude regions. Only in the Indian Monsoon region, where interannualvariability in the low-level winds is comparatively small, does the moisture bias play a substantial role. Incontrast, the comparisons with the operational product show differences in moisture that are comparable to thedifferences in the wind in all three regions. Compared with the fluxes, the anomalous moisture convergences show substantially larger differences amongthe three products. The best agreement occurs over the Great Plains region where all three products showvertically integrated moisture convergence during the floods and divergence during the drought with differencesin magnitude of about 25%. The reanalysis products, in particular, show good agreement in depicting the differentroles of the mean flow and transients during the flood and drought periods. Differences between the threeproducts in the other two regions exceed 100% reflecting differences in the low-level jets and the large-scalecirculation patterns. The operational product tends to have locally larger amplitude convergence fields, whichaverage out in area-mean budgets: this appears to be at least in part due to errors in the surface pressure fieldsand aliasing from the higher resolution of the original ECMWF fields. On average, the reanalysis products show higher coherence with each other than with the operational productin the estimates of interannual variability. This result is less clear in the Indian monsoon region where differencesin the input observations appear to be an important factor. The agreement in the anomalous convergence patternsis, however, still rather poor even over relatively data-dense regions such as the United States Great Plains.These differences are attributed to deficiencies in the assimilating general circulation model’s representations ofthe planetary boundary layer and orography, and a global observing system incapable of resolving the highlyconfined low-level winds associated with the climate anomalies.